Cassette 9: Autumn 1998/Transcript
This is the official transcript for the episode which can also be accessed for free at'' patreon.com/withinthewires''SIDE A Sigrid. I am concerned by what you told me in your last cassette. I am very concerned. How could I not be? It pains me to be so far away from you, so I cannot deal with problems as they arise. I am concerned now that, after all this time as my trusted deputy, I still feel like I must be there to keep order, to keep momentum. I am concerned that you have allowed this problem to develop as much as it has. And I am not in a position to travel back to Europe, avoid detection by IID security teams, to get safe passage north to Hedmark and resolve what you apparently cannot. I am of course not unaware that our living situation brings with it some trials. The occasional tribulation. If we were free to live openly in a city or a town, as others live, we would be able to benefit from the collective security they enjoy. From the feeling of collective security they enjoy. We would look to our streetlights and our dead bolted doors and bask in our presumed safety like the rest of the world. But we have chosen to live free of their rules and their systems, and so we have also chosen to live free of the safety that the system can provide. We know this. Everyone knows this. That’s the whole point of what I am attempting to accomplish, to bring us collective security, to change laws if I can, whether through legislation, or changing public sentiments about The Cradle. There is a long history of people living on the fringes of society, and in that history they are usually portrayed as, at best, odd. We are crazy for separating ourselves from the masses, for rejecting the safe haven of government, yes, but also the authoritarian rules of government. They think us eclectic for choosing to forge our own path, instead of staying beholden to strict standards set by others. No one ever seems to question what we stood to gain by living apart. What was it that made the separation, the lack of safety, the loneliness, the madness, as they say, worth it? That is how people talk of us now, Sigrid. They talk about us as if we are lunatics. They call us a cult, a militia, villains. These people live their whole lives never questioning the rules they abide by, and they call us crazy. But maybe there’s truth in that. If we cannot accept that choosing to live as we do will mean sometimes feeling afraid then maybe we are crazy. Hmm? Or if we accept that we must sometimes feel afraid, we attribute that not to real sources of danger – the possibility that we may be accosted by the police, charged with serious crimes that risk the foundations of The Society and imprisoned for the rest of our lives – but to fictional dangers we invent, based on the movements of the shadows, or the darkness of the water. You should not need me to tell you, Sigrid, that the movement of the water is caused by fish, by rapids, by winds, and not by Seljordsormen. You should not need me to tell you, and nor should anyone else, that strange movements in the forest are not made by Bergkonge. The things you have told me of the situation in the camp are deeply worrying. The clothing you say has disappeared from washing lines. The marks outside the deep freeze units, the missing meat. The rifles that were tampered with, the broken pipes. Ore tells you the children have seen a strange, shadowy creature lurking outside their tents, and you report it to me as if it is true. Bern claims a being in the lake overturned his boat and almost dragged him underwater to his death and you chronicle this as reality. You tell me you are concerned about this, that the people are concerned about this, and they should be. They should be concerned. But they need to learn to better direct their concern. If there are strange things happening at the camp, then we need to know the real cause. And it is not creatures lurking behind the trees, or in the blackness of the water. You need to look to yourselves. You need to look to the law. You need to look to The Society. If there is mischief within the ranks of our community you must weed it out or we will never be able to stand united in the face of the world. As I see it, you have two tasks ahead of you that must be dealt with immediately. You must quash this childish superstition that has been allowed to take root and grow within our family, apparently without critique or censure. You must restore logic, normalcy and good sense and if you cannot you will show that I have chosen my deputies with more love than discernment. And you must remind them of the tenets of our order. It is in times of doubt and fear that we must all hold fast to what we know to be true. To the firm beliefs we have proved over decades. These have been refined as gold in the fire, they are pure and real and will withhold against the false sheen of passing superstitions. You must seek out the real cause of the worrying incidents in the camp and deal with it. Publicly. The whole group, every member of The Cradle, must see how seriously we take any attempts to undermine our sacred calling. We must demonstrate strength in the face of dissidence – whether of serious or trivial nature. I believe I have made it clear on multiple occasions that we are facing a battle. We seek to dismantle the very building blocks of The Society and we will not manage it easily. We need to arm ourselves, and we need our arms facing the right direction. Not towards each other, not towards some mumbo jumbo about monsters in the woods, but towards the status quo that has let the natural order be broken clean in two. Put a stop to this, Sigrid. I am counting on you. SIDE B My friends. My children. I must bid you all farewell. For a time, I must bid you farewell. I am not sure when I will be able to talk to you again, but know that I hold you all in my heart. Every day I lift your faces up to the light and pray to the earth, our great mother, that you are, each and every one of you, happy and well. I know that this separation may be a trial – it is a trial for me. But I believe that trials are crucial for all humankind. Just as gold cannot be refined and purified without fire, so can we not be strengthened without pain and struggle. Faith is not faith if it is never tested. But I trust in your faith. I trust in the power of your belief. I know that I will be able to return to you all because I know how much you believe in me. I know how much you believe in our cause. While I am far away from you, you must continue in the tasks I have laid out. These tasks, these practices are crucial for all of you. They are how we will build ourselves into something more than just a group of people, living in the woods. While I am away, I ask that you each take time each day to commune with your faith. It is easy to neglect this kind of care, it is easy to get distracted by the day-to-day necessities of life. But I tell you now that taking this time is one of life’s day-to-day necessities. It is as crucial to a healthy and productive life as eating breakfast or staying hydrated. When we fail to look to our faith regularly then we set ourselves up to be failed by faith. Because we have not nurtured it. That is when we leave ourselves open to false beliefs. That is when superstition can begin to take root in our hearts. I am concerned that some members of this family are making things harder for themselves by allowing untrue wonderings to infect their spirits. The longer you neglect your faith the more you will have to uproot down the line. You must nurture your faith daily, that it will become a tranquil garden in which you can sit, somewhere starlings and damselflies can commune with you in peace. It may sound like this is a peaceful, pleasant task, and in some ways it is. But you must also be prepared to be ruthless. You must be prepared to hold your beliefs and preconceptions to the light, that you may see their true nature. You must be prepared to cast away anything that is false, however dear you may hold it, whatever comfort it brings you. There is no place in the garden of your faith for weeds, no matter how green they may be. These daily reflections should be a common part of your day in any case, but they are all the more important when I am going to be away for so long. I will not be able to build up your faith for some months, I must trust you to keep it strong on your own. At times like this, it can be helpful and should be encouraged that you take some trouble over the faith and strength of each other. You are your neighbour’s support in this, and can help them by noting when they seem to falter. You can help your fallen friends, your neighbours, you can remind them of the importance of The Cradle, of our sacred task. Anything that concerns you in your neighbours’ words or actions you should address with them. If you are not sure of the truthfulness of their response, you must address it with them again. If you are still not satisfied that your neighbour is being true to their faith, to our family, you should make my deputy, my daughter Sigrid, aware of your concerns as well. We each have a responsibility to each other. We each have a responsibility to ourselves. But most importantly of all, we each have a responsibility to The Cradle and to its purpose. It is not easy to live up to that responsibility but somehow we must. You all must. You must do whatever it takes to preserve our vision. You must do whatever it takes to be prepared to share our vision with the world. As you maintain your body by eating, as you strengthen it by training. As you prepare your mind with study. As you fortify your home with arms and with skill in using them. As you build each other up by breaking bread together, by sharing knowledge, and by practising your skills together. As you do all this, day after day, you must also build up your soul, you must also strengthen your spirit, you must fortify your faith. And you must support your neighbour as they do the same. I hope that the time will pass quickly until I can speak to you again, whether from a distance or in person. I pray that your faith in me brings me home before too long. I believe that your commitment to our order will hold strong and true in the face of its trials. In love, in communion, in family, I bid you all farewell. Category:Transcripts